John Pesutto’s prospects as Victorian opposition leader are hanging by a thread after an anti–transgender rights activist declared she would follow Moira Deeming in filing defamation proceedings against him.

British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull on Monday said she had instructed her lawyers to file defamation proceedings against Mr Pesutto, while Angie Jones, who helped her organise a rally in Melbourne last year that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, is expected to do the same.